bacha bazi

The Obama Administration is shrugging off the latest report that police officers in Afghanistan–allied with the United States forces–were sexually abusing little boys.

The bombshell report comes from Lance Cpl. Gregory Buckley, Jr., who told his father of the abuse during a phone call home. Buckley said he could hear the abuse happening from his bunk.

“At night, we can hear them screaming, but we’re not allowed to do anything about it,” said Buckley’s father, Gregory Buckley, Sr. “My son said that his officers told him to look the other way because it’s their culture.”

The younger Buckley himself was killed in 2012, after being shot.

The situation in Afghanistan, however, has long been documented. It’s a practice called “bacha bazi”–literally, “boy play”–and, for years, the U.S. military, with the full backing of higher ups in the Obama Administration, has turned a blind eye. Even when this abuse occurs on U.S. military bases, by U.S. allies in Afghanistan.

Dismissing it as a harmless part of Afghan culture–even though it’s not part of Afghan culture, and is certainly not harmless–has led to a situation where the U.S. military is actively arming and promoting known pedophiles. These pedophiles are often put in charge of large divisions of troops–with many children under their jurisdiction.

So far, Obama has not commented on the rampant sexual abuse–and it’s clear that, despite the growing outcry, he has no plan to change course in Afghanistan.